ZACHARIAS & ELISABETH

LUKE 1:5-25

Four Hundred years silence from God; not a word nor a whimper from Him. Life goes on day in and day out. Herod is King. Priests serve faithfully. There are some 20,000 priests. They are divided into 24 orders. Each order served 8 days in the Temple. It took 50 priests to serve a day and fulfill the duties in the Temple. There were many duties in the Temple that must be performed everyday. The highest honor was to offer incense. It was an honor a priest had only once in a lifetime. Today it was the honor of Zacharias.

Zacharias was a humble priest that lived with his wife, Elisabeth. They were a childless couple, advanced in years. They went about living their lives in faithfulness to God. We are told they were “righteous before God” (1:6). This is seen by the following:

·         Faithful & blameless concerning His Word and the requirements of God.

·         Faithful in service (1:8)

·         Faithful in prayer (1:13)

In was in this ordinary day to day faithfulness that God breaks his silence. God speaks and works in the ordinary. It is in the ordinary faithfulness of service that God speaks. It is when it is least expected that God speaks through means most unusual that the voice of God is heard. While Zacharias was fulfilling his duty, an angel of the Lord speaks to him. He is given a promise—“your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John” (1:13). Let us not despise the ordinary. God uses the ordinary to do great things.

Embedded in this story is the great message for us living in the ordinary. It may seem to many of us that God is silent. The message is hidden in the names of these ordinary servants—Zacharias and Elisabeth. Zacharias means “God remembers” and Elisabeth means “God’s Oath.” Thus, God remembers His oath. God is active and fulfilling His Word by becoming active in history. He remembers His oath to Zacharias in John the Baptist. He remembers His oath to the world by sending His Son. Zacharias’ son will pave the way for the Son of God. God is faithful! He does no overlook his servants. God remembers. God honors.